Although a little slim at 44 minutes, Verve's compilation of 11 romantic titles recorded by Dinah Washington includes some of her finest material. Concentrating on the mid- to late '50s, Dinah Washington for Lovers surveys the years when she finally bloomed as a popular purveyor of adult vocal jazz. Surprisingly, it doesn't include the most popular ballad of her career, "What a Diff'rence a Day Made," but Washington had a certain way with standards that never fails to delight; no other vocal interpreter can make listeners contemplate lyrics anew even after they've heard it enough times to memorize. While most of the selections here feature the rosy strings and orchestra that Washington preferred late in her career, a pair of mellow ballads ("Darn That Dream" and "Crazy He Calls Me") come from a very different type of recording, her 1954 jam session landmark, Dinah Jams.